


On Humanity

by AerisLei



Category: RWBY
Genre: Cameo Blake Belladonna, Cameo Weiss Schnee, Canon Compliant, Gen, Post Hound Reveal, Ruby is not coping well, Stream of Consciousness, slots between there and the rwby scene in episode 10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:15:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29764332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AerisLei/pseuds/AerisLei
Summary: A quick piece that spun itself up in response to the fact that we got such a stunted reaction to the Hound's identity.
Relationships: Ruby Rose & Team RWBY
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	On Humanity

**Author's Note:**

> I had a Lot of fun with this, but it's not the most polished/coherent piece because it isn't really supposed to be. I hope you guys enjoy it anyway!

It was a person. The weight settled deep in Ruby’s chest, threatening to crush her, to suffocate her, to prevent her from forming words or reacting the way she needed to. There was still a threat. Her friends were still in danger and they didn’t know when, or if, it was going to go away.

It was a person. She accepted her actions may have killed before. But this was the first time she’d been forced to face it head on.

It was a person. Not just a grimm monstrosity, it had once been a living being. A faunus with Silver eyes. Eyes like hers.

Was this why Tyrian had wanted to take her alive?

It was a person. She couldn’t breathe, the air in her lungs was equally icy and on fire. Each attempt to force herself to take in oxygen burned and burned until she was sure she was going to drop to her knees.

She couldn’t. Her team was watching her. They needed her. Blake had said it. They needed her. They couldn’t do this without her.

It didn’t matter that her limbs were filled with lead and her chest was full of ice and fire and horror and hate. Her team needed her, and she couldn’t abandon them to figure this out on their own.

Ruby took another heaving breath. Willow and Whitley had killed the grimm-person by dropping a suit of armor on top of it. The person was already gone, she told herself. 

It still turned her stomach. It was a person. A person just like her. 

How many people had Salem done this to? Would she one day turn a corner and face a grimm that was once her mother?

“Ruby?” Weiss’s voice is soft and comes from her elbow. Before Ruby can process the noise and formulate a proper response, a hand touches her.

Ruby recoils violently, drawing away and curling her arms around her chest.

“I’m sorry.” She blurted immediately. “I just need a second.”

And Weiss, bless her, takes a step back and doesn’t ask questions. “Take all the time you need.” She says.

Ruby wishes she could. But no, there is still work to be done. She’ll allow herself 5 minutes, and no more.

She’s glad she hasn’t had time to eat, instead subsisting primarily on tea. Even the tea turned into a lump in her stomach that she wasn’t convinced her body wasn’t going to try to reject any second. 

Willow and Whitley had withdrawn somewhere else. Blake and Weiss moved to take Penny back upstairs.

Ruby should be helping them. Instead, she was struggling to force air into her lungs and feeling like she’d breathed in glass shards along with it.

Ruby felt small. Smaller than she had since being reunited with Yang in Haven and allowing herself to admit how much she’d missed her sister. She missed Yang _now_ too. A hug and a steady hand would have been enough to let Ruby pull herself together. Dad or Uncle Qrow would have been nice, too.

She didn’t have the luxury to want to look to an adult and let them take it over. Ruby had to stand on her own two feet.

It had been a person. Would it always hurt this much, faced with people that Salem had ripped apart? Would it always hurt this much, knowing sometimes she would have to make decisions that cost lives?

Her self-imposed time limit was creeping up. She’d promised herself no more than 5 minutes to melt down and find a way to shove all the pieces back in their places.

Breathe in, force air into her too-tight lungs. Hold it. Then breathe out _slowly_. 

It was a person, but it didn’t matter; couldn’t matter. They had a job to do. There were lives at stake. 

“Ruby?”

The voice belonged to Blake this time, standing in the doorway. There was concern there, of course. 

She’d only gotten 3 minutes. It was close enough. It had to be enough.

She forced a smile, tentative though it was. “I’m okay, Blake.” She promised, rising to her feet. She didn’t feel okay. She still felt like she was breathing glass. She was going to see the faunus’s horrified expression and hear that _voice_ in her dreams for weeks, if not months.

If they survived.

Blake didn’t really look convinced, but nodded slightly anyway, accepting it. “We got Penny settled back down upstairs. Nora’s awake.”

“I’ll make some tea for Nora and Klein then.” Ruby declared.

Blake didn’t protest and didn’t offer to come with her. It was for the best, Ruby thought. Something simple she could do with or without any ability to focus, and it was constructive, at least a little.

Breathe in. Hold. Breathe out. _It was a person. How many Grimm they’d faced were people?_ How many had she already killed unknowingly?

She made her way to the kitchen and set the water on to heat. She watched the water with slightly vacant eyes.

“You don’t have to be okay, you know.”

Ruby flinched at the words from Weiss. Weiss who had judged for her being too young, too incompetent, _not ready_. None of them were ready. No one _could be_ ready for what they’d come to face.

That seemed a lifetime ago. But it was still true. 

She smiled. “I really am okay, Weiss.” She lied, hating the taste of it and the pull of the smile on already too sharp edges. “It just caught me off guard, that’s all.”

“Ruby…”

Ruby set to carefully arranging things on the tray. Two cups of tea, some toast. She’d even made some for herself, though Ruby didn’t know if she’d be able to eat it.

“Could you take this upstairs, for Nora and Klein?” Ruby asked, as if the older girl hadn’t spoken, hadn’t tried to cast light on all those broken edges.

“Of course.” Weiss sounded a little resigned, but she picked up the tray and left Ruby standing in the kitchen. 

It was a person, and the thought still made her hands tremble. It was a person, Salem had done many horrible things. This was only one of many.

It was a person. A silver eyed warrior, just like her.

But there were thousands of lives at stake. She had to remain balanced on the knife’s edge.

She had to keep moving forward. 

(But it was a person, and that would haunt her. Monsters weren’t supposed to be people)


End file.
